Situation of Human Rights of Rohingya Muslims and Other Minorities in Myanmar

A/HRC/RES/59/2View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A document of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 2Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General, published in 2025.

What else is in this group?

16 documents · 2015–2025

2025A/RES/80/221Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in MyanmarCompare with earlier document
2025A/HRC/RES/59/2Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in MyanmarCompare with earlier document
2024A/RES/79/182Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in MyanmarCompare with earlier document
2024A/HRC/RES/56/1Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in MyanmarCompare with earlier document
2023A/RES/78/219Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in MyanmarCompare with earlier document

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2 entities

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What subjects does this mandate have?

10 topics

Accountability Anti-Discrimination Measures Displaced Persons Financing Human Rights Human Rights Violations Humanitarian Assistance Minorities Muslims Myanmar

What does this mandate say?

56 operative paragraphs

Expresses grave concern at continuing reports of serious human rights violations and abuses in Myanmar, in particular against Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, including those involving arbitrary arrests, deaths in detention, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the deliberate killing and maiming of children, forced labour, the use of school buildings for military purposes, indiscriminate shelling in civilian areas, the destruction of places of worship, buildings, homes and civilian properties, socioeconomic exploitation, forced displacement, including the forced displacement of more than 1.5 million Rohingya and other minorities to Bangladesh and across the region, hate speech and incitement to hatred, and rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence against women and children, as well as restrictions on exercising the rights to freedom of religion or belief, of expression and of peaceful assembly, in particular in Rakhine, Chin, Kachin, Shan, Kayah and Kayin States and in Sagaing, Magway and Mandalay regions;

Reiterates its concern about those who were arbitrarily detained, charged or arrested during and in the aftermath of 1 February 2021, strongly condemns the attack in Buthidaung township on 17 May 2024 and the continuous targeting of Rohingya Muslims, calls for the sustainable return of the victims of this attack to their place of origin in Buthidaung township to prevent any further internal displacement, and urges all parties to the conflict to fully comply with the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice to ensure the protection of Rohingya Muslims;

Expresses deep sympathy with all the victims and survivors of the March 2025 earthquakes, which resulted in mass casualties, injuries and significant destruction of infrastructure, welcomes the aid provided to date, urges the further provision of humanitarian aid to all in need, including through organizations already operating in affected areas, in line with the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence, and calls upon the Myanmar military and other parties to cease all hostilities and to facilitate full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to all victims and survivors in all affected regions;

Calls for engagement in a constructive and peaceful dialogue and reconciliation, in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar, including Rohingya Muslims and other ethnic minorities;

Strongly condemns all violations and abuses of human rights in Myanmar, before and after the military coup, including those related to and following the declaration of the state of emergency on 1 February 2021, and calls upon Myanmar to end immediately all violence and violations of international law in the country, to ensure full protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all persons in Myanmar, including Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, in an equal, non-discriminatory and dignified manner in order to prevent further instability and insecurity and alleviate suffering, to address the root causes of the crisis, including by repealing or reforming all discriminatory legislation, to forge a viable, lasting and durable solution to the crisis by ensuring repatriation in a voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable manner, to take all measures necessary to provide justice and reparations to victims and to ensure full accountability and end impunity for all violations of human rights by undertaking a full, transparent and independent investigation into reports of all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law;

Calls upon all parties, including all armed groups, to immediately cease all forms of violence and violations and abuses of international human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law, including the use of civilians as human shields and the obstruction of humanitarian access, urges the United Nations, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, to expand its investigative efforts to include these recent atrocities, reiterates the importance of holding all perpetrators accountable, including through appropriate international justice mechanisms such as the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, and emphasizes the importance of ensuring that victims are afforded justice, truth, reparations and guarantees of non-repetition;

Expresses grave concern at the forcible conscription of Rohingya Muslims by the Myanmar Armed Forces and other armed actors, and urges all warring parties to immediately put an end to such forcible conscription and allow already conscripted Rohingya to return home in safety and with dignity;

Reiterates the importance of conducting international, independent, fair and transparent investigations into gross human rights violations and abuses in Myanmar, including those involving sexual and gender-based violence and abuses against women and children and alleged war crimes, and of holding accountable all those responsible for brutal acts and crimes against all persons, including Rohingya Muslims, in order to deliver justice to victims using all appropriate legal instruments and domestic, regional and international judicial mechanisms, including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, as applicable;

Expresses deep concern that, despite the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice on 23 January 2020, Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, including women and children, continue to suffer from targeted killings, indiscriminate violence and serious injuries, including by means of indiscriminate fire, airstrikes, shelling, burning, landmines and unexploded ordnance;

Welcomes the order of the International Court of Justice on 22 July 2022, in which the preliminary objections of Myanmar challenging the Court’s jurisdiction in the case brought by the Gambia under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide were rejected and the applications of the Gambia were found to be admissible;

Stresses the importance of strict enforcement of the ceasefire and the cessation of violence and restraint by Myanmar security and armed forces and other armed groups with a view to ensuring the safety, security and protection of civilians, including those who are displaced and willing to return;

Calls for the immediate cessation of fighting and hostilities, of the targeting of civilians and of all violations and abuses of international human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law and for the implementation of an inclusive and comprehensive national political dialogue and nationwide reconciliation process, while ensuring the full, effective and meaningful participation of all ethnic groups, including Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, women, young people and persons with disabilities, as well as civil society and religious leaders, with the objective of achieving lasting peace, and also calls for a peaceful resolution through dialogue towards national unity;

Expresses deep concern over the cross-border spillover effect of the conflict in Myanmar, which has reportedly caused death and damage to property in Bangladesh and other bordering countries, and urges Myanmar to take all measures necessary to maintain stability along its international border and ensure the safety of lives and property in bordering countries;

Calls upon Myanmar to end immediately all violence and all violations of international law in the country, to ensure the protection of the human rights of all persons in Myanmar, including Rohingya Muslims and persons belonging to other minorities, and to take all measures necessary to provide justice and reparations to victims, to ensure full accountability and to end impunity for all violations and abuses of human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law, starting with a full, transparent and independent investigation into reports of all these violations, and calls for the release of the full report of the Independent Commission of Enquiry established in 2018, or the sharing of its findings with relevant international mechanisms;

Reiterates its urgent call upon Myanmar to take the measures necessary to promote the inclusion, human rights and dignity of all people living in Myanmar, to address the spread of discrimination and prejudice and to take credible steps to end legal and factual discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities, including Rohingya Muslims;

Calls upon Myanmar to combat incitement to hatred and hate speech against Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, online and offline, by publicly condemning such acts and enacting necessary anti-hate speech and crime laws, in accordance with international human rights law, and by promoting interfaith dialogue in cooperation with the international community, and encourages political, religious and community leaders in the country to work towards national unity through dialogue;

Also calls upon Myanmar to lift the shutdown of Internet and telecommunications services fully in all areas in Myanmar, including Rakhine State, and to repeal article 77 of the Telecommunications Act in order to avoid any further cutting of Internet and telecommunications access and the stifling of the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to seek, receive and impart information, in accordance with international human rights law;

Further calls upon Myanmar to protect the rights of all children, including Rohingya children, to acquire citizenship in order to eliminate statelessness, in accordance with the obligations of Myanmar under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to ensure the protection of all children in armed conflict and to end the recruitment and use of children in forced labour, and notes with concern that children in Myanmar have become increasingly vulnerable to the worst forms of child labour since 2021;

Urges Myanmar to cooperate fully with and to grant full, unrestricted and unmonitored access to all United Nations mandate holders and human rights mechanisms, including the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar and the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar established by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 39/2, relevant United Nations agencies and international and regional human rights bodies, to independently monitor the situation of human rights and to ensure that individuals can cooperate without hindrance with these mechanisms without fear of reprisals, intimidation or attack, and expresses deep concern that international access to affected areas, including northern Rakhine State, remains severely restricted for the international community, including for United Nations agencies, humanitarian actors and international media;

Welcomes the work of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011, in particular in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan States, making use of the information handed over by the independent international fact-finding mission on Myanmar, and to prepare files in order to facilitate and expedite fair and independent criminal proceedings, in accordance with international law standards, in national, regional or international courts or tribunals that have, or may in the future have, jurisdiction over these crimes, in accordance with international law, and its reports submitted to the Human Rights Council;

Calls for close cooperation between the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar and any ongoing or future investigations pertaining to serious international crimes and violations of international law in Myanmar by national, regional or international courts or tribunals;

Calls upon the United Nations to ensure that the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar is afforded the flexibility that it needs in terms of staffing, location and operational freedom so that it can deliver as effectively as possible on its mandate, and urges Myanmar, States, in particular those in the region, judicial authorities and private entities to fully cooperate with the Mechanism, including by granting it access, including access to witnesses where applicable, and by providing it with every assistance in the execution of its mandate;

Reiterates the importance of the implementation of the recommendations contained in the reports of the independent international fact-finding mission on Myanmar, and urges Myanmar and the international community to give due consideration in this regard;

Also reiterates the importance of the full implementation of all the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State to address the root causes of the crisis, including those on the right to nationality and equal access to citizenship, freedom of movement, reparations for land appropriation, the elimination of systematic segregation and all forms of discrimination, and inclusive and equal access to health services, education and birth registration, in full consultation with all ethnic and religious minorities and persons in vulnerable situations, including Rohingya Muslims, and with civil society;

Calls upon Myanmar to make serious efforts to eliminate statelessness among and the systematic and institutionalized discrimination against members of ethnic and religious minorities, in particular Rohingya Muslims, by, inter alia, repealing and replacing the 1982 Citizenship Law, which has led to the deprivation of human rights, by ensuring everyone’s right to a nationality and the equal access of all people in Myanmar, in particular Rohingya Muslims, to full citizenship through a transparent, voluntary and accessible procedure and to all civil and political rights by allowing for self-identification, by amending or repealing all discriminatory legislation and policies, including discriminatory provisions of the set of “protection of race and religion laws” enacted in 2015 covering religious conversion, interfaith marriage, monogamy and population control, and by lifting all local orders restricting the rights to freedom of movement and access to civil registration, health and education services and livelihoods;

Expresses deep concern over the lack of progress by the Myanmar Armed Forces in the implementation of the five-point consensus of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, reiterates its urgent call upon Myanmar to fully, swiftly and effectively implement the five-point consensus to facilitate a peaceful solution through inclusive dialogue and the immediate cessation of violence in the interests of the people of Myanmar and their livelihoods, including of Rohingya Muslims and other ethnic minorities, to that end calls upon all stakeholders in Myanmar to cooperate with the Association and the Special Envoy of the Chair of the Association on Myanmar, including by granting the Special Envoy access to all stakeholders, and expresses its support for these efforts;

Expresses its support for further efforts towards the implementation of the five-point consensus of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and in this regard welcomes the Association leaders’ review of and decision on the implementation of the five-point consensus, adopted at the forty-fourth summit of the Association, held in Vientiane on 9 October 2024;

Calls upon States to protect Myanmar nationals, in particular Rohingya Muslims and other minorities within their borders, and to respect the principle of non-refoulement;

Encourages the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar to engage with Myanmar and all other relevant stakeholders, including civil society, and affected populations, such as Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar, aiming at the early resolution of the crisis in Myanmar, and urges Myanmar to cooperate fully with the Special Envoy;

Encourages Myanmar to review and repeal the amendments made in 2018 to the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law, to establish an inclusive land governance framework and to resolve issues of land tenure, in full consultation with affected populations, including ethnic and religious minority communities, in particular Rohingya Muslims;

Calls for an immediate end to the reclassification of areas where Rohingya villages were previously located and to the removal of the names of villages from official maps, potentially altering how the land may be used, and for the stopping, without delay, of the construction of military facilities in those villages;

Urges Myanmar to take all measures necessary to reverse and abandon policies, directives and practices that marginalize Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, to prevent the destruction of places of worship, cemeteries, infrastructure and commercial or residential buildings belonging to all people, to ensure that all displaced persons, including Rohingya Muslims and persons belonging to other minorities, in Rakhine State and throughout Myanmar, including the 128,000 Rohingya and Kaman Muslims who have been confined in camps in central Rakhine State since 2012, can return to their homes and properties with freedom of movement and unimpeded access to livelihoods and essential services, to review relevant laws and to address the root causes of their vulnerable situations and forced displacement;

Calls upon Myanmar to dismantle the camps for internally displaced persons in Rakhine State with a clear timeline, ensuring that the return or relocation of internally displaced persons is carried out in accordance with international standards and best practices, including those set forth in the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, in cooperation with the United Nations and the international community;

Also calls upon Myanmar, in line with the bilateral instruments on repatriation signed by Bangladesh and Myanmar, to take concrete steps towards the creation of an environment conducive to the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of forcibly displaced Rohingya Muslims and other minorities of Myanmar temporarily sheltering in Bangladesh, and to disseminate authentic information, in partnership with the United Nations and other relevant actors, on the conditions in Rakhine State in order to reasonably address the core concerns of Rohingya Muslims;

Urges Myanmar to commence the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation and subsequent reintegration of all forcibly displaced Rohingya Muslims and other minorities from Bangladesh by creating conducive conditions in Rakhine State, recalling the bilateral arrangement on the return of displaced persons from Rakhine State concluded between Bangladesh and Myanmar in November 2017, and of those residing in other host States to Myanmar, including by extending full cooperation to the Government of Bangladesh and the United Nations, in particular the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and, as applicable, the Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, with the assurance of providing returnees with freedom of movement and unimpeded access to livelihoods and social services, including health services, education and shelter, and compensating them for all losses;

Calls upon the United Nations and encourages other international agencies to provide all support necessary for the Government of Bangladesh and Myanmar to facilitate the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of forcibly displaced Rohingya Muslims and other minorities from Myanmar, including internally displaced persons;

Expresses grave concern at the increasing restrictions on humanitarian access, in particular in Rakhine, Chin, Kachin, Shan, Kayah and Kayin States, calls upon Myanmar to ensure full respect for international humanitarian law and to allow the full, safe and unhindered access of humanitarian personnel to all areas in Myanmar to provide humanitarian assistance, taking into account the vulnerable situation of women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities, as well as the delivery of supplies and equipment, and to ensure the full protection, safety and security of humanitarian and medical personnel in order to allow such personnel to perform efficiently their tasks of assisting the affected civilian populations, including internally displaced persons, and encourages Myanmar to grant access to the diplomatic corps, independent observers and representatives of national and international independent media, without fear of reprisals;

Underscores the importance of unhindered and adequate humanitarian assistance within Rakhine by the United Nations and all relevant humanitarian actors in view of the dire need for access to humanitarian assistance by the conflict-affected and internally displaced Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Rakhine State;

Expresses concern at the continued irregular maritime movement of Rohingya Muslims who risk their lives in perilous conditions at the hands of exploitative smugglers and human traffickers, which highlights their desperate situation and the urgent need to address the root causes of their plight, and calls upon the international community to effectively address such irregular maritime movements of Rohingya Muslims, in cooperation with the relevant United Nations agencies, and to ensure international burden- and responsibility-sharing, especially by the States Parties to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees;

Calls upon Myanmar to effectively address the root causes of human rights violations and abuses against ethnic minorities, including the Rohingya, in Rakhine State and to create the conditions necessary for the safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of all refugees, including Rohingya Muslim refugees, particularly in view of the fact that, to date, not a single Rohingya has returned through a bilaterally set-up mechanism for repatriation between Bangladesh and Myanmar owing to the failure of Myanmar to create such conditions in Rakhine State;

Reaffirms the critical importance of inclusive and participatory governance structures in Rakhine State that ensure the full and meaningful representation of all ethnic and religious communities, including Rohingya Muslims, in decision-making processes at all levels (local, regional and administrative), and expresses concern that the continued exclusion of Rohingya Muslims from emerging governance mechanisms, including interim administrative bodies and local development initiatives, entrenches their political marginalization and poses a serious obstacle to sustainable peace, social cohesion and long-term reconciliation in Myanmar,

Calls upon the Myanmar authorities to adopt transparent and non-discriminatory governance policies that ensure equitable political representation and uphold the rights of all ethnic and religious communities, including Rohingya Muslims, as an essential step toward national reconciliation, and in this regard urges the Myanmar authorities to end all forms of exclusion and discriminatory practices, to guarantee Rohingya equal rights to civic participation and to ensure their full and meaningful inclusion in present and future governance frameworks – including through comprehensive reform of the 1982 Citizenship Law and the repeal of all local orders and regulations that restrict their fundamental rights – including in line with the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State;

Expresses deep concern at the declining external humanitarian assistance and abrupt cuts in financial assistance for the Rohingya in Bangladesh and the uncertain aid prospects, urges all donor countries to make special efforts to maintain the level of assistance to the Rohingya sheltered in Bangladesh, and urges the international community to undertake efforts to broaden the donor base;

Encourages the international community, in the true spirit of interdependence and equal burden- and responsibility-sharing, to continue to assist Bangladesh in the provision of humanitarian assistance to forcibly displaced Rohingya Muslims and other minorities until their return to Myanmar, and to assist Myanmar in the provision of humanitarian assistance to all affected persons of all communities displaced internally in Myanmar, including in Rakhine State, taking into account the vulnerable situation of women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities;

Calls upon States and other stakeholders that have not yet contributed to burden- and responsibility-sharing to do so with a view to broadening the support base, in a spirit of international solidarity and cooperation, and acknowledges and expresses appreciation for the efforts of the Government of Bangladesh to provide humanitarian assistance to the displaced Rohingya Muslims and other minorities thus far;

Calls upon the international community to continue to make adequate financial contributions for the forcibly displaced Rohingya temporarily sheltered in Bangladesh to avoid the irreversibility of the devastating impact of measures such as the ration reductions by the World Food Programme and the reduction of support for youth education programmes by the United Nations Children’s Fund until the time that they return to Rakhine State;

Urges all States, regional organizations and international financial institutions to support these critical needs gaps through sustained, flexible and predictable funding, in line with the principles of responsibility-sharing and solidarity, and to safeguard the rights and dignity of Rohingya refugees pending their voluntary, safe and dignified repatriation;

Urges humanitarian partners to come forward to reduce the gap between the amounts pledged and the amounts received, notably under the joint response plan for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis, and to prioritize sectors covering basic necessities, such as food, health, protection, site management, shelter and education, as part of their contributions;

Calls upon United Nations agencies and regional bodies to conduct extended humanitarian operations, and for full humanitarian access to be granted to all humanitarian actors in Rakhine State;

Encourages all business enterprises, including transnational corporations and domestic enterprises operating in Myanmar, to implement the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights;

Recalls Human Rights Council resolution 53/26, in which the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to present a report at its fifty-ninth session, and requests the High Commissioner to present that report at its sixty-third session, to be followed by an enhanced interactive dialogue with the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar;

Requests the High Commissioner to monitor and follow up on the implementation of the recommendations made by the independent international fact-finding mission on Myanmar, including those on accountability and justice, and to continue to track progress in the situation of human rights in Myanmar, including of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, with the support of specialist experts and in complementarity with the work of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar and the reports of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, and to present an oral update to the Human Rights Council at its sixty-fourth session, to be followed by an interactive dialogue, and a report at its sixty-sixth session, to be followed by an enhanced interactive dialogue with the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, and a report to the General Assembly at its eighty-first session;

Invites the United Nations system, including agencies, funds and programmes, to actively engage in the process leading to the High-level Conference on the Situation of Rohingya Muslims and Other Minorities in Myanmar, to be held in New York on 30 September 2025, with a view to improving the United Nations system’s overall efficiency and ability to provide support and assistance, including humanitarian assistance, with regard to the situation impacting Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar;

Calls upon States, entities of the United Nations system, civil society organizations and others to support initiatives to engage stakeholders, including Rohingya and other members of minority groups of Myanmar, prior to the High-level Conference on the Situation of Rohingya Muslims and Other Minorities in Myanmar, as well as to hold panel discussions as side events on the margins of the Conference, in order to provide a meaningful contribution to the objectives of the Conference;

Calls upon relevant United Nations bodies to continue to make concrete recommendations for action to resolve the humanitarian crisis, promoting the safe, dignified, voluntary and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees and forcibly displaced persons and ensuring accountability for those responsible for mass atrocities and human rights violations and abuses in this regard;

Decides to remain seized of the matter on the basis of, inter alia, the reports of relevant United Nations mechanisms.

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